Doppler lidar at Observatoire de Haute-Provence for wind profiling up to 75 km altitude: performance evaluation and observations

Abstract. A direct-detection Rayleigh–Mie Doppler lidar for measuring horizontal wind speed in the middle atmosphere (10 to 50 km altitude) has been deployed at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP) in southern France starting from 1993. After a recent upgrade, the instrument gained the capacity of wind profiling between 5 and 75 km altitude with vertical resolution up to 115 m and temporal resolution up to 5 min. The lidar comprises a monomode Nd:Yag laser emitting at 532 nm, three telescope assemblies and a double-edge Fabry–Pérot interferometer for detection of the Doppler shift in the backscattered light. In this article, we describe the instrument design, recap retrieval methodology and provide an updated error estimate for horizontal wind. The evaluation of the wind lidar performance is done using a series of 12 time-coordinated radiosoundings conducted at OHP. A point-by-point intercomparison shows a remarkably small average bias of 0.1 m s−1 between the lidar and the radiosonde wind profiles with a standard deviation of 2.3 m s−1. We report examples of a weekly and an hourly observation series, reflecting various dynamical events in the middle atmosphere, such as a sudden stratospheric warming event in January 2019 and an occurrence of a stationary gravity wave, generated by the flow over the Alps. A qualitative comparison between the wind profiles from the lidar and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Integrated Forecast System is also discussed. Finally, we present an example of early validation of the European Space Agency (ESA) Aeolus space-borne wind lidar using its ground-based predecessor.

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Doppler lidar at Observatoire de Haute Provence for wind profiling up to 75 km altitude: performance evaluation and observations

10.5194/amt-2019-385 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Sergey M. Khaykin ◽

Alain Hauchecorne ◽

Robin Wing ◽

Philippe Keckhut ◽

Sophie Godin-Beekmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Middle Atmosphere ◽

Direct Detection ◽

Horizontal Wind ◽

Doppler Lidar ◽

Qualitative Comparison ◽

Horizontal Wind Speed ◽

Early Validation ◽

Wind Lidar ◽

Wind Profiles ◽

Hourly Observation

Abstract. A direct-detection Rayleigh-Mie Doppler lidar for measuring horizontal wind speed in the middle atmosphere has been deployed at Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP) in southern France since 1993. After a recent upgrade, the instrument gained the capacity of wind profiling between 5 and 75 km altitude with high vertical and temporal resolution. The lidar comprises a monomode Nd:Yag laser emitting at 532 nm, three telescope assemblies, and a double-edge Fabry-Perot interferometer for detection of the Doppler shift in the backscattered light. In this article, we describe the instrument design, recap retrieval methodology and provide an updated error estimate for horizontal wind. The evaluation of the wind lidar performance is done using a series of twelve time-coordinated radiosoundings conducted at OHP. A point-by-point intercomparison shows a remarkably small average bias of 0.1 m/s between the lidar and the radiosonde wind profiles with a standard deviation of 2.2 m/s. We report examples of a weekly and an hourly observation series, reflecting various dynamical events in the middle atmosphere, such as a Sudden Stratospheric Warming event in January 2019 and an occurrence of a stationary gravity wave, generated by the flow over the Alps. A qualitative comparison between the wind profiles from the lidar and the ECMWF Integrated Forecast System is also discussed. Finally, we present an example of early validation of the ESA Aeolus space-borne wind lidar using its ground-based predecessor.

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The Airborne Demonstrator for the Direct-Detection Doppler Wind Lidar ALADIN on ADM-Aeolus. Part I: Instrument Design and Comparison to Satellite Instrument

Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology ◽

10.1175/2009jtecha1309.1 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 26 (12) ◽

pp. 2501-2515 ◽

Cited By ~ 89

Author(s):

Oliver Reitebuch ◽

Christian Lemmerz ◽

Engelbert Nagel ◽

Ulrike Paffrath ◽

Yannig Durand ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Direct Detection ◽

Weather Prediction ◽

European Space Agency ◽

Unmet Need ◽

Single Frequency ◽

Doppler Lidar ◽

Numerical Weather ◽

Atmospheric Observations ◽

Wind Lidar ◽

Doppler Wind Lidar

Abstract The global observation of profiles of the atmospheric wind speed is the highest-priority unmet need for global numerical weather prediction. Satellite Doppler lidar is the most promising candidate to meet the requirements on global wind profile observations with high vertical resolution, precision, and accuracy. The European Space Agency (ESA) decided to implement a Doppler wind lidar mission called the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus (ADM-Aeolus) to demonstrate the potential of the Doppler lidar technology and the expected impact on numerical weather forecasting. An airborne prototype of the instrument on ADM-Aeolus was developed to validate the instrument concept and retrieval algorithms with realistic atmospheric observations before the satellite launch. It is the first airborne direct-detection Doppler lidar for atmospheric observations, and it is operating at an ultraviolet wavelength of 355 nm. The optical design is described in detail, including the single-frequency pulsed laser and the two spectrometers to resolve the Doppler frequency shift from molecular Rayleigh and aerosol Mie backscatter. The airborne prototype is representative of the spaceborne instrument, and their specific differences are discussed.

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ALADIN Doppler Wind Lidar and Related Programs at EADS Astrium

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-1076-k04-02 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 1076 ◽

Author(s):

Didier Morancais ◽

Frédéric Fabre ◽

Yves Toulemont

Keyword(s):

Direct Detection ◽

European Space Agency ◽

Doppler Lidar ◽

Wind Fields ◽

Space Agency ◽

Direct Measurements ◽

Satellite Velocity ◽

Receiver Performance ◽

Wind Lidar ◽

Flight Model

ABSTRACTThe Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) is the payload of the ADM-AEOLUS mission, which will make direct measurements of global wind fields. It will determine the wind velocity component normal to the satellite velocity vector. The instrument is a direct detection Doppler Lidar operating in the UV, which will be the first of its kind in space.ALADIN is now in its final construction stage: the integration of the Flight Model is on-going. Most of the subsystems have been integrated; the payload performance and qualification test campaign will commence.This paper describes the ALADIN the development status and the results obtained at this stage. This regards the receiver performance, the telescope development and the challenges of the laser.The paper will also provide insights on the ATLID instrument design which is the backscatter lidar for the EarthCARE mission. This lidar program is starting its detailed design phase.The ALADIN and ATLID instruments are developed by EADS Astrium Satellites for the European Space Agency.

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0.355 μm direct detection wind lidar under testing during a field campaign in consideration of ESA's ADM-Aeolus Mission

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions ◽

10.5194/amtd-6-4551-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 4551-4575

Author(s):

S. Lolli ◽

A. Delaval ◽

C. Loth ◽

A. Garnier ◽

P. H. Flamant

Keyword(s):

Direct Detection ◽

Weather Prediction ◽

European Space Agency ◽

Geostrophic Wind ◽

Wind Data ◽

High Spectral Resolution ◽

Horizontal Wind ◽

Observation System ◽

Doppler Lidar ◽

Field Campaign

Abstract. The atmospheric wind field information is a key issue to Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and climate studies. A space based Wind Doppler lidar mission so-called ADM-Aeolus is currently developed by the European Space Agency for a launch in 2015. Such a Doppler lidar will provide accurate direct measurements of horizontal wind velocity in the depth of atmosphere. The wind data will be evenly distributed at a global scale. The goal is to enhance the present meteorological observation system over sparse wind data regions, and more important to provide direct wind information in the tropics where no geostrophic wind can be derived from passive radiometer satellite. ADM-Aeolus is basically a 0.355 μm high spectral resolution backscatter lidar. This concept was under test during a field campaign conducted at the Haute Provence Observatory in France 1999. It was the opportunity to address the self-consistency of wind measurements made by different active remote sensors i.e. lidars and a 72-MHz radar, and balloon radio soundings.

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Doppler wind lidar activities at Cabauw

10.5194/ems2021-136 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Steven Knoop ◽

Fred Bosveld ◽

Marijn de Haij ◽

Arnoud Apituley

Keyword(s):

Wind Speed ◽

Wind Profile ◽

Continuous Wave ◽

Wind Farms ◽

Data Availability ◽

Horizontal Wind ◽

Horizontal Wind Speed ◽

Low Clouds ◽

Wind Measurements ◽

Wind Lidar

Atmospheric motion and turbulence are essential parameters for weather and topics related to air quality. Therefore, wind profile measurements play an important role in atmospheric research and meteorology. One source of wind profile data are Doppler wind lidars, which are laser-based remote sensing instruments that measure wind speed and wind direction up to a few hundred meters or even a few kilometers. Commercial wind lidars use the laser wavelength of 1.5 &#181;m and therefore backscatter is mainly from aerosols while clear air backscatter is minimal, limiting the range to the boundary layer typically.We have carried out a two-year intercomparison of the ZephIR 300M (ZX Lidars) short-range wind lidar and tall mast wind measurements at Cabauw [1]. We have focused on the (height-dependent) data availability of the wind lidar under various meteorological conditions and the data quality through a comparison with in situ wind measurements at several levels in the 213m tall meteorological mast. We have found an overall availability of quality-controlled wind lidar data of 97% to 98 %, where the missing part is mainly due to precipitation events exceeding 1 mm/h or fog or low clouds below 100 m. The mean bias in the horizontal wind speed is within 0.1 m/s with a high correlation between the mast and wind lidar measurements, although under some specific conditions (very high wind speed, fog or low clouds) larger deviations are observed. This instrument is being deployed within North Sea wind farms.Recently, a scanning long-range wind lidar Windcube 200S (Leosphere/Vaisala) has been installed at Cabauw, as part of the Ruisdael Observatory program [2]. The scanning Doppler wind lidars will provide detailed measurements of the wind field, aerosols and clouds around the Cabauw site, in coordination with other instruments, such as the cloud radar.[1] Knoop, S., Bosveld, F. C., de Haij, M. J., and Apituley, A.: A 2-year intercomparison of continuous-wave focusing wind lidar and tall mast wind measurements at Cabauw, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2219&#8211;2235, 2021[2] https://ruisdael-observatory.nl/

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Comparison of Large Eddy Simulations of a convective boundary layer with wind LIDAR measurements

Advances in Science and Research ◽

10.5194/asr-8-83-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 83-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

J. G. Pedersen ◽

M. Kelly ◽

S.-E. Gryning ◽

R. Floors ◽

E. Batchvarova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Boundary Layer ◽

Wind Speed ◽

Geostrophic Wind ◽

Large Eddy Simulations ◽

Horizontal Wind ◽

Convective Boundary ◽

Horizontal Wind Speed ◽

Large Eddy ◽

Lidar Measurements ◽

Wind Lidar

Abstract. Vertical profiles of the horizontal wind speed and of the standard deviation of vertical wind speed from Large Eddy Simulations of a convective atmospheric boundary layer are compared to wind LIDAR measurements up to 1400 m. Fair agreement regarding both types of profiles is observed only when the simulated flow is driven by a both time- and height-dependent geostrophic wind and a time-dependent surface heat flux. This underlines the importance of mesoscale effects when the flow above the atmospheric surface layer is simulated with a computational fluid dynamics model.

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Wind profile correction algorithm based on Atmospheric Boundary Layer stability profile

10.5194/ems2021-341 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Francisco Albuquerque Neto ◽

Vinicius Almeida ◽

Julia Carelli

Keyword(s):

Boundary Layer ◽

Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽

Wind Profile ◽

Horizontal Wind ◽

Boundary Layer Stability ◽

Correction Algorithm ◽

Horizontal Wind Speed ◽

Study Region ◽

Profile Correction ◽

Wind Profiles

In recent years, the use of radar wind profilers (RWP) at airports has grown significantly with the aim of supporting decision makers to maintain the safety of aircraft landings and takeoffs.The RWP provide vertical profiles of averaged horizontal wind speed and direction and vertical wind velocity for the entire Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) and beyond. In addition, RWP with Radio-Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) are able to retrieve virtual temperature profiles in the ABL.RWP data evaluation is usually based on the so-called Doppler Beam Swinging method (DBS) which assumes homogeneity and stationarity of the wind field. Often, transient eddies violate this homogeneity and stationarity requirement. Hence, incorrect wind profiles can relate to transient eddies and present a problem for the forecast of high-impact weather phenomena in airports. This work intends to provide a method for removing outliers in such profiles based on historical data and other variables related to the Atmospheric Boundary Layer stability profile in the study region.For this study, a dataset of almost one year retrieved from a RWP LAP3000 with RASS Extension is used for a wind profile correction algorithm development.The algorithm consists of the detection of outliers in the wind profiles based on the thermodynamic structure of the ABL and the generation of the corrected profiles.Results show that the algorithm is capable of identifying and correcting unrealistic variations in speed caused by transient eddies. The method can be applied as a complement to the RWP data processing for better data reliability.&#160;Keywords: atmospheric boundary layer; stability profile; wind profile

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Retrieval of atmospheric backscatter and extinction profiles with the aladin airborne demonstrator (A2D)

EPJ Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/epjconf/201817602021 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 176 ◽

pp. 02021 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alexander Geiss ◽

Uwe Marksteiner ◽

Oliver Lux ◽

Christian Lemmerz ◽

Oliver Reitebuch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Direct Detection ◽

European Space Agency ◽

Backscatter Coefficient ◽

Detection Scheme ◽

Space Agency ◽

Fabry Perot ◽

Lidar Ratio ◽

Wind Lidar ◽

Wind Retrievals ◽

Atmospheric Backscatter

By the end of 2017, the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the Atmospheric laser Doppler instrument (ALADIN), a direct detection Doppler wind lidar operating at 355 nm. An important tool for the validation and optimization of ALADIN’s hardware and data processors for wind retrievals with real atmospheric signals is the ALADIN airborne demonstrator A2D. In order to be able to validate and test aerosol retrieval algorithms from ALADIN, an algorithm for the retrieval of atmospheric backscatter and extinction profiles from A2D is necessary. The A2D is utilizing a direct detection scheme by using a dual Fabry-Pérot interferometer to measure molecular Rayleigh signals and a Fizeau interferometer to measure aerosol Mie returns. Signals are captured by accumulation charge coupled devices (ACCD). These specifications make different steps in the signal preprocessing necessary. In this paper, the required steps to retrieve aerosol optical products, i. e. particle backscatter coefficient βp, particle extinction coefficient αp and lidar ratio Sp from A2D raw signals are described.

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First Results from the German Cal/Val Activities for Aeolus

EPJ Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/epjconf/202023701008 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 237 ◽

pp. 01008 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Holger Baars ◽

Alexander Geiß ◽

Ulla Wandinger ◽

Alina Herzog ◽

Ronny Engelmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Direct Detection ◽

Weather Prediction ◽

European Space Agency ◽

High Spectral Resolution ◽

Dual Channel ◽

Space Agency ◽

First Results ◽

Global Coverage ◽

Wind Lidar ◽

Doppler Wind Lidar

On 22nd August 2018, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the first direct detection Doppler wind lidar into space. Operating at 355 nm and acquiring signals with a dual channel receiver, it allows wind observations in clear air and particle-laden regions of the atmosphere. Furthermore, particle optical properties can be obtained using the High Spectral Resolution Technique Lidar (HSRL) technique. Measuring with 87 km horizontal and 0.25-2 km vertical resolution between ground and up to 30 km in the stratosphere, the global coverage of Aeolus observations shall fill gaps in the global observing system and thus help improving numerical weather prediction. Within this contribution, first results from the German initiative for experimental Aeolus validation are presented and discussed. Ground-based wind and aerosol measurements from tropospheric radar wind profilers, Doppler wind lidars, radiosondes, aerosol lidars and cloud radars are utilized for that purpose.

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Shipborne Wind Measurement and Motion-induced Error Correction of a Coherent Doppler Lidar over the Yellow Sea in 2014

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ◽

10.5194/amt-11-1313-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 1313-1331 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Xiaochun Zhai ◽

Songhua Wu ◽

Bingyi Liu ◽

Xiaoquan Song ◽

Jiaping Yin

Keyword(s):

Wind Speed ◽

Yellow Sea ◽

The Yellow Sea ◽

Horizontal Wind ◽

Measuring Error ◽

Doppler Lidar ◽

Random Errors ◽

Horizontal Wind Speed ◽

Pointing Error ◽

Coherent Doppler Lidar

Abstract. Shipborne wind observations by a coherent Doppler lidar (CDL) have been conducted to study the structure of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) during the 2014 Yellow Sea campaign. This paper evaluates uncertainties associated with the ship motion and presents the correction methodology regarding lidar velocity measurement based on modified 4-Doppler beam swing (DBS) solution. The errors of calibrated measurement, both for the anchored and the cruising shipborne observations, are comparable to those of ground-based measurements. The comparison between the lidar and radiosonde results in a bias of −0.23 ms−1 and a standard deviation of 0.87 ms−1 for the wind speed measurement, and 2.48, 8.84∘ for the wind direction. The biases of horizontal wind speed and random errors of vertical velocity are also estimated using the error propagation theory and frequency spectrum analysis, respectively. The results show that the biases are mainly related to the measuring error of the ship velocity and lidar pointing error, and the random errors are mainly determined by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the lidar backscattering spectrum signal. It allows for the retrieval of vertical wind, based on one measurement, with random error below 0.15 ms−1 for an appropriate SNR threshold and bias below 0.02 ms−1. The combination of the CDL attitude correction system and the accurate motion correction process has the potential of continuous long-term high temporal and spatial resolution measurement for the MABL thermodynamic and turbulence process.

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